The Regiment

Rating:
Summary: Good military fiction and bit of philosophy all-in-one
Review: Aside from the book being good military (science) fiction, with all its attendant feelings and details, i liked this book because of the examination it took of process and methodology. It weaves various viewpoints of war into a clash of ideologies, which in turn turns out to be a great bit of social engineering. The viewpoint the story is told from (a reporter from a very controlled society) seems a bit off, and the character a little too contrived, but works well as a voice for the story.

Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest and most detailed military sci-fi novel
Review: I have read a lot of military sci-fi in my life and this one is right up there at the top.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent! Worth getting caught up in!
Review: I read this book and loved it. The plot was easy to get caught up in and the characters believable. The end had me unable to put the book down, till the last page.

Rating:
Summary: Greatest Military and Philosophy Book combined!
Review: It starts as a military story but what it is, is a story about a new philosophy combatting against a federation that strives and kills for the status quo...and it brings you along until you totally get the ideas and concepts of the T'sel Which rocks beyond belief!

Rating:
Summary: One of his best
Review: The is one of Dalmas' best works. The Regiment is an engaging story about a human who joins a group of the universe's best soldiers in order to learn more about them, with some intersting sidelines of metaphysics and military philosophy thrown in. A quick read and a good book to kill a Sat. afternoon.

Rating:
Summary: One of his best
Review: The is one of Dalmas' best works. The Regiment is an engaging story about a human who joins a group of the universe's best soldiers in order to learn more about them, with some intersting sidelines of metaphysics and military philosophy thrown in. A quick read and a good book to kill a Sat. afternoon.

Rating:
Summary: A great start to a good series of books...
Review: The Regiment is a delightful book. The plot is somewhat simple, but the characters and ideas that fill the book make it a must for any lover of military science-fiction or just lovers of science fiction in general. If you like David Drake's books, try John Dalmas's books. The setting is a fully detailed universe and this book is just the first in a long series of books which will be based in this universe. Watch out, it is in no way a Standard book in any sense of the word.

Rating:
Summary: Great Fun Read
Review: The Regiment is a great read with a very involving plot. It has semi-superficial, but interesting characters. It has a sensible, if odd, philosophy. It's not a deep or complex book, but it will pull you in and keep you turning pages if you let it. It is easy to read and pretty predictable, if not entirely so. It has well writtain action scenes and simple but intriguing backstory. It's not for everyone, but if you want to think a little and waste some time with fun, then it is a great book.

Rating:
Summary: Horrendously bad.
Review: This may be the worst book I've ever read. If not, it is darn close. The writing is childish; the philosophy is half-baked; the premise is silly. Millenia ago a group of humans fled their planets of origin to escape a war. While travelling through space, they discovered that their own pacifist people were breaking down into factions. (Duh. Read Madison's essay on faction in the Federalist papers.) So they decided to brainwash everybody so as to avoid competition and research and so on. The idea was to prevent the development of military technologies of mass destruction. (Why not brainwash everybody to be pacifists? Because then there would be no story.) One group refused to accept the brainwashing, so they got left off on a pit of a planet. That group becomes soldiers. But they also develop the ability to travel back in time telepathically and discover the roots of humanity. They then become the seeds of a conspiracy to undo the brainwashing. Along the way, the soldiers develop some hairbrained philosophy that looks to be a bad imitation of Maslow's theories of self-actualization. I got far enough into the book to get the gist of it, skipped ahead to the end, and tossed it.